Ranma K'Valdemar
by FireForEffect
Summary: Props if you can guess the cross from the title. So I guess the real questions is: Is Ranma his own Companion, or his own Herald?
1. Prolog

"But Van! We can't just leave him here to that monster!" The white haired woman gestured to the room that the small pig-tailed youth slept in. "He nearly shattered his mind. In fact he DID shatter his mind. I was just barely able to put the pieces back in place. I wasn't able to completely remove the taint, and the child is going to have a pathological fear for the rest of his life. I don't know how you can justify leaving that boy here with that abusive monster."

"Fandes, we don't even know if it really _was_ the boys father that threw him into that pit of cats, or even if the pit was real." The main raised his hand in a placating gesture as the woman made to speak. " -I know, I know. But you and I know of more then one way memories can be changed, and I just refuse to believe that someone would torture their own family in such a fashion. It could even be a tradition or something." A hansom man wearing white clothing replied.

"That's a load of crap and you know it. He belongs in Velgarth, I can feel it." The white haired woman said.

The man sighed. "We still can't take him with us, and if he truly belongs in Velgarth, he will find his way there on his own regardless. I refuse to take a child to a battle zone. I've figured out how we were sent to this world and we _can_ come back. And we will. We'll come back for him. But _after_ the battle. The kind lady that owns this house said that she would take care of him until his family came to get him."

"Vanyel, how are we going to find him again after we leave?"

"I gave him my signet pendant, the one of the little Companion. I will be able to find it wherever it may be on this world when we return." Having said his part, the man gathered the woman up into a hug. "I'm going to miss being able to gather you into a hug like this."

"Me too, But not too much, I don't think I could deal with Stefen's jealousy. I would probably end up trampling him."

"True," the man and woman shared a laugh. "Alright Yfandes, it's time we got home. Stefen is waiting and we have an appointment to make in the Forest of Sorrows and I have a feeling it would be unwise to be late."

* * *

Ranma sighed as he got back got back to camp and saw his father had passed out drunk after eating all the food again. _Stupid wolves… Stupid pops_. It had been three weeks since the last attempt at the Neko-Ken training and his father found him staying with that kindly older woman. Genma had not mentioned the Neko-ken since the day he found Ranma staying with that kind old lady and Ranma was understandably reluctant to bring it up.

Pulling his beadroll out of his pack Ranma got ready to get a few hours of sleep before sunrise. He was more then tired enough to fall asleep and more then a little curious too. The first few days after the dreaded cat-fist training Ranma was plagued by horrible, indescribable nightmares that he could never remember after he woke up, but more and more lately they had been taking on a softer feeling, less full of pain and fear. He even started to remember some of what happened in them. It wasn't much and image here, an emotion there.

As Ranma lay down he gazed at the infinity spread out above him. It was such a clear night, and it seemed all the stars had come out for a show. Absentmindedly he reached up and started to kneed his pigtail, feeling the little horse amulet twined inside. The old lady that helped patch his cuts had given it to him and told him about the two that had found him and calmed him down. He didn't give them much more though, except to wonder at their kindness to take time out of their day to help a complete stranger.

_I wonder if I'll have another dream tonight._ Ranma thought to himself as his conscious left him._ They always start out so scary, but then _She_ comes and chases all the felines away … and tells me everthing will be all right … everything will be all right… and she sounds like bells …such nice white hair… and blue eyes… _

"…zzzZZZzzz…_" _


	2. Chapter 1

A.N. These play grounds are owned by better people then me; I'm just playing on the merry go round.

* * *

"Ah! Welcome honorable customers to the legendary cursed training grounds of Jusenkyo."

The valley was laid out before the two travelers. Dozens of pools surrounded them as uncounted hundreds more retreated into the mists. Bamboo shoots rose out of each supernaturally still spring around them, and more could be seen rising out of the mist further on, until they too were swallowed by the haze. There was no sound in the area, and the noise that the two travelers had made on their way in seemed to be absorbed by the vapor and deadened. The entire place unnerved Ranma.

"See boy! I told you I knew the way. We got here didn't we? Still, doesn't look like much compared to some of the places _we've_ trained in, eh boy?" The elder of the travelers said to the younger. He was an older man, slightly over-weight, but with movement that spoke of grace and deadly potential. He wore a dirty gi, a pair of glasses, and an old bandana over his head.

"Whatever you say pops." The younger traveler replied. He knew that them finding this area was just a stroke of pure luck, they had been wandering around the wilderness for days now trying to find this area, and Genma, his father, had just given up and started back towards civilization when they stumbled over the path leading to the valley. Ever since he had entered the valley his danger sense was droning on in the back of his mind, and it put him on edge. He could almost hear a voice whispering to him that it wasn't a good idea to be here and he should leave.

"You is strange one Mr. Honored customer, yes-no? come-come, we go to hut." the portly little Chinese guide said. Genma seemed to completely ignore the guide, and Ranma just made a small apologetic shrug at him; he knew what was coming next.

"Well come on then boy, lets see what you've got!" so saying Genma made an incredible leap over one of the springs to the top of its bamboo poll. The poll creaked and bent a little under the older mans weight, but held. Dropping his pack next to Genma's, Ranma leapt up to a pole over a spring next to his father. Ranma almost lost his balance when the low droning of his danger sense turned into a rabid shrieking. Ranma firmed up his stance. He would figure out how his father was making his danger-sense go haywire later. It was a nifty trick and would make this battle truly challenging. His father had been insulting him since he himself had landed on his own pole, but Ranma had long sense learned to ignore him, and concentrated on the upcoming fight.

"Oh no! Honored customers! What you be doing! Is very dangerous. You come down now, yes?" the poor guide seemed to be on the verge of having a heart attack. He would have to make an apology later.

He knew his father was going to try and use his hair against him. Lately he had been growing it out longer then usual, it now hung to his lower back. His father called it a weakness and over the past several weeks had tried to use it against him in their spars. Normally Genma couldn't get a hand on it before the spar ended, but the few times he had his father had given him such a beating that he was seriously considering cutting it shorter, if for no other reason then to get his father to be quite. The only reason why he hadn't so far was because when it was so long, it was easier to hide the white spots that had been showing up in it. They had started showing up as little sections of lightening hair around where he kept the amulet. At first he thought that he was already going gray haired, probably from all the stress that Genma had put on him, but his hair continued past gray and into white. It was only in the areas that the amulet directly touched too, which was weird. He didn't want to take the amulet out, but hiding it in his hair was the only way to keep it safe from his father, and Ranma refused to just get rid of it. It was one of his few possessions, in fact it was Ranma's only possession that was really _his_ and not something stolen by Genma and then given to him. Oh well, maybe he would look good with white hair, but he couldn't imagine what Genma would say. He would find a solution to his problem later, his father wanted to fight, and fight right _now_.

Ranma jumped in a low fast arch to another pole as his father came flying down out of the sky like some great bird of prey. Genma's landing mostly shattered the bamboo as he quickly hopped over to an un-occupied pole. Ranma didn't leave his father any time to try and attack; as soon as he saw which pole he was going to Ranma jumped to intercept. His father reached the pole a half-instant before Ranma did, and was already turning in a blindingly fast spin kick. He was able to twist in mid-air so that the kick missed, but he was no longer in a position to be able attack his father. Quickly Ranma planted his hands on his father's shoulders and vaulted into the air towards another pole.

Genma bounded after him, faster from his more stable launch point. The met in mid air in a brutal display if martial prowess. Punches and kicks were launched as nothing more then blurs, and Hits were exchanged with blinding speed. At the apex of their flight Ranma realized that his father out massed him and, lacking leverage, would be able to control who landed on the bamboo and who took a dunk, regardless if how many hits Ranma himself got in.

Ranma punched at his fathers face, but instead of following though with the attack, used both hands to push away from his father as he attempted to block. He set himself on a different course then his father, ensuring the battle would continue longer. Ranma was distracted from his thoughts of strategy by a sharp pull on his the back of his head, throwing his balance off. -_Shit-_ His father had managed to get a hand on his pigtail and was pulling Ranma along with him by it. Instead of fighting the pull, he let his father pull him in close while he twisted and brought both of his legs around in a swinging double kick. Genma caught off guard by the lack of struggle over the control of his sons hair didn't see the kick coming until it landed in his face. The force of the blow sent the two combatants shooting of opposite directions from each other.

Ranma and Genma landed on their respective poles at the same time. Ranma knew immediately that something was off. His balance has changed, just a little. It was something so insignificant that he almost dismissed it. It wasn't until he looked across at his father that the feeling of dread hit him. His father wasn't looking at him, but up in the air, with a quickly spreading expression of greed. Looking up at what had caught his fathers attention Ranma felt the bottom of his stomach fall out. His silver amulet was flying through the air between the two of them. It must have come out of his pigtail in their last exchange, and now it was falling towards one of the pools.

His father had seen it now and was preparing a leap to catch it, regardless of the fact that to get it would before it hit the water would lead either fighter in a ballistic arc that came nowhere near any pole to land on. Ranma sighed in depression, his father would consider getting wet a good trade to getting his hands on something that may be real silver, even if he would just sell it to a pawn shop and drink the money away. He would never see his amulet again. Ranma steeled himself. That was his! There was no way he was going to let his father get his hands on his one true possession even if he had to fight the nine levels of hell to keep it.

_:Good for you. Now go get it:_

Ranma was so focused on preparing for his jump that he didn't react at all to the voice. Leaping an instant after his father, the two fighters again sailed into the air on an arc to intercept the falling trinket. Genma, with his hand outstretched and focused on the shiny object never saw the kick coming. His fingers just barely brushed the edge of the amulet as his sons foot landed in the middle of his face. Ranma clutched his possession to his chest as he viciously bounced off his fathers face, sending him straight down into the pool below them with a monstrous splash.

With the extra altitude pushing off his fathers face gave him Ranma was able to make it to another bamboo pole. Quickly Ranma took the shiny horse shaped amulet and tied it back into his hair.

_:Don't just stand there! MOVE:_

"Huh?" Ranma looked around for the speaker of the voice, but before he could find it he found himself flying uncontrollably backwards with a bruise on his chest courtsy of an … angry giant Chinese panda? _–wait a second … did that guide say CURSED training grounds?-_

_:Oh for the love of…:_

"POPS-"

SPLASH

* * *

Genma winced again as they made their way down the trail to some village. Reaching a furry paw down to massage his side and the growing bruise expanding below his fur. His enraged son had elected to continue their battle after he had climbed out of the pool. Genma couldn't really blame him, really. Even _he_ had to admit that this was probably one of the few real big mistakes he had made in his life. Still, it had been an interesting battle between his son's newfound form and Genma's own, and it had ended in a draw with both of them collapsed on the ground next to each other.

Thankfully the guide had come along at that point and explained what exactly had happened to the two martial-artists. Fortunately the curses weren't -exactly- permanent, and after they had changed back the guide had told them about the village that they were currently traveling towards, and how they may have a cure. Over all Genma wasn't too worried about the curses, the usual Saotome luck would kick in and the village would have a cure and then the two would continue on with their journey. Maybe it was time to bring the boy to Tendo, there was less and less that he was able to teach him.

Genma winced again as he took another step. Pandas weren't exactly designed to walk on two legs. At least it had only been a light shower that caught them on the trail, and not a downpour. Still, combined with trying to walk upright and the bruises his son had given him the going was less then comfortable. He had to chuckle a little at himself – the boy's cursed form could kick _hard_. And bite pretty hard too, Genma realized as he massaged his fingers –If his son wanted to keep the trinket that bad he would let him.

He stopped and looked back at his son. It was hard to read emotion from his new equine body, but the stormy cast to Ranma's blue eyes told Genma all he needed to know about the boy's current mental state. Quickly he turned back and started walking again. He had no desire to be trampled by his son…again. Never let it be said that Genma doesn't learn from his mistakes in a fight. Besides, being trampled by a horse hurt enough when it _wasn't_ aiming for soft spots.

Wild-horse indeed. He had to admit that the boy's cursed form was an impressive beast. While not particularly large, he had an impressive musculature on him that was flowed over by sleek black fur, covered in spots of gray and white. His white mane seemed to almost glow on it's own. The oddest part, in Genma's opinion was Ranma's silver looking hooves. He didn't know a lot about animals, let alone horses in particular, but he didn't think that was a natural occurrence.

Genma's thoughts were interrupted as his stomach growled. First things first, as soon as they got to the village he would secure himself some food, then he and his son would get their cures, be on their ways, and everything would be fine. Now only if he could get his son to believe that…


	3. Chapter 2

A.N: I'll try and keep the chapter length up, but no promises. Glad you all like it so far.

* * *

From the top of the rise the village looked like any hundred others Ranma had seen. From his vantage point he could just barely see over a perimeter wall made from stout, strong timber. It was most likely built to keep the wilderness out, but it seemed fairly over done if just to keep the odd predator out. Dozens of small flanges of smoke reached into the sky from roofs of dwellings. 

He could see two brightly dressed guards standing at open gates they were approaching. That was something about his curse that had struck him as odd –he could see color while in his cursed form. He didn't think horses were supposed to do that, but all he could do was give a mental shrug. Who was he to pretend he was an expert on ancient Chinese curses. For all that he had color vision it was still totally different from his normal sight; it was wider –so wide that he could see what felt like almost directly left and right at the same time, but he had an annoying black spot directly in front of himself where he had to keep turning his head from side to side to see. Also he couldn't see as clearly to far distances, which might become a problem against an opponent with really long ranged attacks.

One thing that seemed to stick out about his cursed forms senses, his sense of hearing and smell had seemed to be multiplied by some unreasonable number. He could already hear the sounds of life coming from the village itself; it sounded like they were have some kind of festival or something. His hearing was even sensitive enough to hear the slight creak that his father's hip made when he walked. Serves the old panda right, he would heal eventually. The enhanced hearing would do him well in a fight, he decided, if he could get the dang ears to point the direction he wanted them to and not flop around based on his emotional state. It would be bad if he got in a fight and his ears pinned back and he lost most of his hearing just because he became a little angry.

His smelling had also become similarly sharpened, but all he could smell was either Genma, or himself, and he had long sense tired of the stink from his father or the smell of wet horse. If he concentrated he could even pick up some of his fathers emotions through his sent, but the last attempt had led to an almost involuntary reaction to shove his nose in the nearest pool of water to clean the nasty stench out. He had only done _that_ once too –his nose was incredibly sensitive and ramming it into the bottom of the pond with his entire body weight behind himself had not been a good idea.

Ranma saw a sizeable rock in the path ahead, and promptly stumbled a little. That's another thing that was starting to aggravate him. His mind drifted back to the fight he had just had a few hours ago with his father. Ranma only real thought during that fight had been that he wanted to 'punish' Genma for his stupidity and his body had responded, but after the fight he found that he had trouble even walking if he tried to think about it. In truth he had no real idea how to get his body to properly walk forward without falling on his face, let alone fight like it did. After a tense moment Ranma managed to recover from his stumble.

After a few seconds standing stock still with his legs locked and teetering from side to side, trying to figure out how to lift one leg without lifting both on that side or falling over, he finally gave up and just stood there, and watched his father and the guide continue on. Griping to himself for a few seconds in frustration Ranma stopped trying to figure out the exact mechanics of how to walk, and suddenly found him-self moving again. It must be that thing that the guide told him that all Jusenkyo cursed victims received… something like "Basic skills for survival" or other. Ranma just grumbled to himself. He was used to his body just doing whatever he willed it to do, but he was also used to having complete and exacting control over every little movement if he wanted to control himself that in a precise manner, and in his cursed form he seemed to completely and utterly lack that control. While his father was confident that this village would have a cure to their curse, Ranma's gut was a little more doubtful.

"Halt! Who goes there?" One of the two guards, one dressed in an eye watering color of pink, demanded. The other just stood there, leading on a mean looking spear with a bored look on her face. Ranma felt both his ears snap forward in attention

Ranma started to answer, but stopped when all that was coming out was a few whinny's

"It's just me with a couple of travelers." The guide replied, giving Ranma a raised eyebrow.

"Hey short stuff. What brings you by the village today?" The guard on the right with the board expression asked. Ranma noted that this one was dressed in blue. Something occurred to Ranma, but he had to give both guards a long hard look. They were absolutely gorgeous looking, with a kind of beauty that would normally have left Ranma franticly shoving his foot in his mouth, but right now he just couldn't bring himself to care. That was … different. He could tell in a clinical way that they were very beautiful, but their beauty just wasn't affecting him as he thought it should. That left him puzzled, and his left ear lower to the side while his other remained up while he tried to figure out why.

"I have a few questions we need to ask one of the elders about Jusenkyo." The guide said.

"Ah, your in luck. Most of the elders are here for the tournament. Since technically the village is open to all visitors today you can go ahead without an escort." The one dressed in pink said.

"Ah. very good. Thank you ladies, we will go find an elder then." So saying the guide started into the village. Genma and Ranma started automatically to follow.

As they entered the village the dirt road they were on turned to a coble-stone lane, with both sides lined with dwellings out of some history documentary. There were also a few brightly haired people in the streets. A few were men, but he noticed most were well-endowed women that were toting various instruments of war and wearing anything from what looked to full formal robes to something that _may_ have passed as a bikini on a very liberal beach. Again Ranma noted that the sight of so much flesh on the more exuberantly dressed seemed to lack the effect on him that it should.

Looking back over his shoulders the guide started to talk to the two cursed martial-artists. "You to is very lucky honored customers. It village tournament today. Great warriors compete today."

Genma merely snorted in contempt, but Ranma froze. The language that the guide just spoke to them in was a different language then the one he was speaking to the guards in. He hadn't even realized when they were talking earlier, it had sounded so natural to him. The only reason he noticed now when the guide switched languages was his grammar was so greatly degraded. In his mind Ranma picked apart the guards and the guides conversation and realized that they were speaking in some form of Chinese that he was sure he had _never_ heard before, but he had understood it like he had been speaking it all his life. What was going on here? What had happened to him? Was it just another weird side effect of the curse? What-

"-EEEE" Ranma was interrupted as something -a very _loud_ something- ran underneath him. It startled him so much he almost bucked like a wild horse, much to his chagrin.

"-HAHAHA-" Again Ranma's train of thought was interrupted as something else ran underneath him, this time before it had even left the station. At this point all the passengers of the 'Ranma mental express' decided to say " 'eff it, were going back home."

Ranma stood there with a befuddled expression as the loud noises resolved themselves into two small children. Two very loud small children at that, and they seemed to take inordinate pleasure in chasing each other through and around Ranma's legs. Ranma couldn't move for fear of stepping on one of the little blurs, and at a loss for what to do at this point just stood there.

"CHILDREN! Quit bugging the horse! Now come here or we will miss the feast." A middle age woman with a face that looked like it had been smashed against a rock a few to many times said. The two children immediately shot out from underneath Ranma and over to the woman, where they promptly started orbiting her like a couple of small comets on Speed. Ranma vaguely note that she too was speaking Chinese, but just stood there because his mind was still re-booting.

At this point the guide and his father had come back to get him. "You no wander off from guide, yes-no?" The guide looked a little bit annoyed and his father looked like he was about to burst out laughing. Ranma favored the guide with an apologetic look and his father with an un-amused one. Seeing that Ranma was paying attention again the guide started to head back to the center of the village. The woman with the two screeching children had started walking the same direction as well. She looked over and made note that Ranma was following the guide.

"Oh my, is that your horse Guide? He is so well trained to stand still with these two little hellions running around him like they are."

The guide stumbled in surprise, and Ranma did. "Oh, well you see it's not really-"

The woman, however, kept on talking right over the Guide. "You know, my husband has been looking for a new animal to help him out in the fields. We were considering going to the next village over and purchasing a couple of oxen, but that fine animal you have there looks more then strong enough to pull the plow. How about you sell it to me Guide? I'm sure I can make it worth your while."

"I don't think that-"

"Oh nonsense. I'm sure it would be more then happy to put in a full day of hard work for me. Wouldn't you boy?" So saying she fished a rather dirty looking carrot out of one of her pockets and all but shoved it in Ranma's face. Ranma just looked that the offering like it was some sort of diseased limb, and wondered if it was still to late to step on one of the woman's kids.

The Guide himself seemed to have developed a nervous tick below his left eye. "It's not mine to sell."

"Oh well… tell you what, if you change your mind-" CRASH The was interrupted by a loud noise from down a side street and stopped to look around. Her kids were gone, and judging by the sounds of destruction from the alley they had found something immeasurably entertaining down there. "… Your going to have to excuse me Guide…ALRIGHT YOU TWO, I THINK ITS TIME FOR SOME MORE _TRAINING!"_

Ranma just snorted as the woman set to chase her two wayward children down. She was getting what she deserved in his opinion. The guide just sighed and started walking down the street again. Genma's expression, however was unreadable… and he didn't like the smell coming off his father. Ranma couldn't quite make the emotion out. He thought being around his father too long had messed up his sense of smell because 'scheming' couldn't be an emotion… could it?

* * *

Lo Xian was whining to herself as she walked away from the observation circle around the challenge log. Not that she would ever admit it to herself. That spoiled princess Xian Pu was up next and she was _not_ going to stick around to watch. Life was just _soooOOOooo_ unfair. Xian Pu always won all her fights, always got all the rewards, and had all the attention of all the males around the village. Lo Xian was fed up with it. 

It should be _her_ that everyone paid the homage to, that that purple haired strumpet. She knew she was right, her great-grandmother Soa Op agreed with her and said as much every day. No one in Lo Xian's family liked anyone in Xian Pu's. She supposed it all went back to the fact that when Elder Kuh Lon had been elected First Matriarch the mystics had started to take second seat to the warriors. That just wasn't right, it was the mystics that were the true power in the Amazon Nation, the ones that truly got things done. Her great-grandmother always told her that too. The mystics never got anything they deserved.

She was so frustrated with this whole festival dedicated to the stupid fighters of the tribe she decided to just head home. That's when she saw them. There was the Jusenkyo, an odd horse, and a panda. The panda was making its way over to the prize table, obvious in its intent. Lo Xian would just let the panda eat all the prize food, it would serve Xian Pu right if there weren't anything left afterward. Guide and, surprisingly enough the horse, were just standing there watching the fight. That was odd behavior for a normal horse. Something was itching at the back of her mind about the horse, something was just not quite right about it.

Acting on her instinct she invoked her second sight. Second sight was something that all mystics learned to do early on in their lives. It allowed them to see things that their normal senses were blind to. Most notably it let them visually see and judge the presence of magic. What she saw made her gasp out loud. The guide appeared normal, and the panda looked to have some sort of midrange chaotic spell on it, but it was the horse that drew her attention.

The horse… no it couldn't be a _horse._ It was a virtual raging bonfire of mystic energy to her second sight. It terrified her. The only time she had seen something filled with a similar amount of mystic energy was her great-grandmother at the height of a complicated spell.

Lo Xian knew what she had to do now. There was only one thing she could think of that had that kind of energy just floating around inside it. It was some sort of demon. There was no question in her mind. No doubt it was maintaining the shape of an oddly colored horse for some nefarious plot. Quickly looking around she seemed to be the only one to realize the threat.

With purpose in her stride she ran as fast as she could towards her great-grandmothers house to get the artifacts she would need. A wide grin split her face. She would finally prove to the entire village that it was the mystics that deserved to rule. And it would _her­_ and not Xian Pu that would save the village today! She could just imagine the gratitude and respect that everyone would have to give her then.

* * *

Kuh Lon nodded as Xian Pu sent her final opponent flying from the challenge log with a well-executed spin kick. She was proud of her great-granddaughters accomplishment. Xian Pu had just tied her own record of being the youngest warrior to win the tournament; no small accomplishment. She was shaping up to be a fine heir. 

Xian Pu stood tall on the log basking in the roar from the crowd. Kuh Lon her self added her own small clap to the commotion, she believed it was what the westerners called a "Golf clap." It was defiantly no easy win for her great-granddaughter, she had fought for the title of champion.

The only one not cheering for her great-grand daughter's victory was her main rival in the council of elders, Soa Op. She could only shake her head. Soa Op had had it out for her, and later her family, ever since she Kuh Lon married her old crush. Kuh Lon sighed and wondered whatever happed to her old friend all those years ago. Ah well, lost opportunities and all that. Kuh Lon had nothing against the mystics, as much as Soa Op loudly claimed, and in fact had more then a little training in the mystic arts herself. Why was it so hard for the other elders to understand that it wasn't Warriors or Mystics alone that made the tribe so strong, but both together. The strongest fighters the village had ever produced were students of both schools. She smiled again at the thought of her great-granddaughter. Xian Pu was starting to show some signs of latent mystic talent, a sign that she would surely grow up to be one of the greatest leaders the village had ever seen.

Suddenly Xian Pu's features turned from the exultation of victory to an angry snarl. Kuh Lon's head snapped around to see what had set her Charge off. She saw the panda almost immediately and as a reflex snapped on her second sight. She rolled her eyes as she saw the mark of Jusenkyo in his aura. If the fool wanted to die that badly she would have obliged. He great-grand daughter was _not _going to be gentle.

Sighing, she hopped in the wake Xian Pu left in her storming charge to the gluttonous panda. She would stop her great granddaughter before she killed the fool, but not much before.

Just as Xian Pu cleared the last of the crowd and prepared to charge, something appeared in her path. It was some oddly colored horse, but Kuh Lon couldn't understand- Then her second sight started screaming at her.

_Oh good goddess_, it was a Guardian Spirit! She was stunned. She hadn't seen one in nearly a hundred years. For them to be blessed with ones presence now was truly an amazing thing.

She saw her great-granddaughters forehead crease in confusion, and then turn back to anger. She could almost read her great-granddaughters thoughts. She was to tired to dodge around it, so she was going to go _through_ it. Foolish girl! She was going to attack a Guardian Spirit! Kuh Lon shuddered at the thought of what the Spirit might do in retribution and gathered her chi.

* * *

"**-STOP!-**" 

Ranma thought his heart might have stopped for a few seconds from the command. He knew everything else had. The purple haired girl in front of him that was getting ready to attack had stopped so rigidly that she had fallen over and was still holding her attack stance perfectly, even though she was on the ground. The entire crowd had frozen as well, in whatever pose they had been in when the command was issued. Even Ranma's father had frozen holding a pitcher of wine, which was splashing on his face. For something to get his father to stop eating, it had to be incredibly powerful. Ranma even observed some poor bird frozen with its wings outstretched take a nosedive into a fountain. He couldn't be sure, but it seemed even the waters of the fountain had paused for a second.

It was almost unnaturally quiet in the area now, and with all the eyes of the villagers focused on him Ranma was starting to get a little nervous. Shaking his head side-to-side just to prove to him self that he could still move, tried to ask just what the hell happened? All that came out what a whiney, but Ranma was thankful for the sound all the same.

Ranma was wondering what he was supposed to do now when an old woman walked up to him holding a gnarled staff. He gave a little twitch in surprise, because his vision was telling him it was a wrinkled up monkey, his nose was telling him it was an old woman, and something … else was telling him she was powerful and should be respected.

"… Oops, put a little to much into that one…" Ranma heard the little … thing … in front of him say to itself as it turned and looked at the mass of still frozen people. To his great surprise it then turned to him and preformed a low bow. "Please, great one, excuse my great grand-daughter." To say Ranma was a little confused at this point was like saying a war is a 'little' violent. "She did not know what she was doing and I assure you once she regains her mobility will apologize profusely. One of your kind has not visited our village in so long and …."

Ranma lost track of what old woman was saying to an annoying buzz in his ears that was getting louder and louder. It seemed all prevalent and blotted out all other sounds. Wondering just _when_ this drug trip was going to end he turned his attention away from the woman before in search of just where that annoying buzz was coming from.

It didn't take him very long to find it. There was a green haired teenager near the entrance of the village square. Ranma only saw her because she was the only one in the area moving. She was bent over some sort of crystal and was chanting, staring right at him with hate filled eyes. The second he saw her the buzzing resolved into words.

"-Begone foul demon" Ranma could understand what was being said, but not how, it had so many consonants and vowels in each word that it gave him a headach just trying to figure out how she was pronouncing the word.

"Back to whence you came." The girl continued. For some odd reason the language tickled something in Ranma's memory… but he couldn't quite place it. Absently he noted that the elderly woman that had been bowing to him was standing looking around… who knows she may be hard of hearing. How could she be missing the girls chant? It seemed to resonate in his head.

"Your presence wont be tolerated in this plane." Ah! Ranma remembered where he had heard of a language like this before. It had been when he and his pops had wintered over somewhere with some magic using monks. He remembered being present one time when they were casting a spell. The words then sounded very similar to the words the girl was using now. The old woman seemed to have seen the girl now, and he could see the expressions of shock and horror spread across the ancient face… and then it all fell into place for Ranma.

"Forever will you leave here, Never to return." Oh… this won't end well…

"BEGONE!" And all Ranma knew was white.

* * *

A.N. I know, I know, you people hate cliff hangers. I do to really, but what I have planned for the next bit is to big and I want to keep updateing fairly often.(P.S. thanks for the save Porthos112, I need to find myself a beta or something lol)  



	4. Chapter 3

Elspeth nearly growled as she stormed out of her pottery shed. Someone had entered and had "cleaned" it up. The evidence of the assassination attempt on her had been removed, along with her stool, shelves, tools, and kiln. Oh, some well-meaning individual had replaced them all, but they were no longer hers. Her sanctuary away from the craziness of life as the Heir to the kingdom of Valdemar had be violated. She supposed that she shouldn't really blame the people that had repaired her hut, and blame the assassin instead, but her most recent argument with her mother had just made her so angry.

When Queen Selenay, Elspeth's mother, and ruler of the kingdom of Valdemar set herself against an idea it was the next thing to impossible to get her to budge. That's what the fight had been about. She knew… _knew_… that something big was coming, and unless Valdemar was prepared it would be torn-asunder. Why was it that she was the only one that seemed to realize that something was wrong? She had gone to her mother to try and convince her of that, but her concerns had been mostly brushed off. Most off the councilors had thought that Elspeth had just wanted to go gallivanting off out into the world to explore and have fun. _Damn-it_, couldn't they understand that she was a Herald first and the Princess and Heir second? She was trying to do what was best for the kingdom only.

Her angry gaze sent most of the palace staff that crossed her scurrying on their way, no doubt spreading all sorts of rumor. Heralds were the backbone of Valdemar. With the help of their magical Companions they traveled to all corners of the kingdom maintaining the law, acting as arbitrators, diplomats, and friends to those in need. Heralds were generally Chosen at a young age by their horse-like companions, and brought to the Palace in Haven to learn their new trade. Gods above only knew how the Companions determined how they chose their Heralds, but only once since the founding of Valdemar itself had one been wrongly chosen, and even that was arguable to a certain extent. Elspeth would give and dozen of those petty nobles and so called "High-born" for a single Herald-Trainee, and wouldn't trade a full blown Herald in whites for Gwena's weight in gold.

Sighing, Elspeth realized she had been walking towards Companion's Field without realizing it. Shrugging her shoulders, she continued on. She could use a good ride to work out her frustrations while she vented with Gwena. Making her way through the halls of the palace she saw the signs of the strain of war almost everywhere. There was nothing big or obvious, but when she looked for it, the signs were there for anyone to see; the shadowed eyes from sleepless nights, the slightly frenetic pace of messengers, the slight fading of the livery. Signs of Valdemar's ongoing war with Hardorn and its bloodthirsty king Ancar were appearing more and more. It was a brutal and bloody war that only Ancar pursued, with Valdemar only acting in self-defense. Ancar was pushed back from every crazed and bloody attempt to invade, but lately the battles were becoming bloodier.

Ancar was raising the stakes however; Valdemar spies in Hardorn, what few survived, were reporting that the crazy King was attempting to hire his own personal army of mages. True mages. The mind magic that most Heralds had just simply could not compete in the same arena. The power to speak over large distances using only your mind, to feel the emotional state of an opponent, to be able to lift small object with your mind, even the feared power to start fires just by thinking hard enough, all paled when compared to the relative ease that a mage could fling lightning bolts, or could cause great flaming meteors to fall from the sky, or to even command the very earth to open beneath ones feet and swallow them whole. That's what her latest argument with her mother had been about; Valdemar had no mages. They needed them if they were to survive the damned war with Hardorn.

Even with all the points Elspeth had raise to the Queen, Selenay still remained unconvinced. After all, Valdemar had survived for more then Five hundred and fifty years without a mage, what need had they for one now? Even after Elspeth had pointed out that they hadn't faced and enemy that used true magic in all that time the Queen remained unconvinced. She loved her mother dearly, but sometimes she could be just as pig-headed about things as she herself was… It was one of the most aggravating qualities that her mother had to share with her. Vanyel Ashkevron, chosen of Yfandes, had been the last Herald-Mage all those years ago, and the ravages of his final battle still scared the land in the Forrest of Sorrows. A slight shudder passed though her body at the thought that the normal men and women of Valdemar might face a Mage of similar power on the field of battle without a similar force to protect them. There wouldn't be anything left to bury.

Exiting the palace proper Elspeth made her way to the great fenced off area that was know as Companion's Field. It was a huge field in the center of the Haven, so big that she couldn't see the other side. It was the area that the Companions used when they hadn't Chosen yet or when they weren't out on patrols with their Heralds. As she approached she could see her own Companion, Gwena, already trotting towards the fence to meet her. Most of the residents of Valdemar knew what a Companion was, but most seemed to have a hard time shaking the belief that they weren't just well bred white horses. A Companion, on the surface, looked like an exceptionally well-bred blue-eyed white haired horse, but underneath were so much more. They had a mind as well developed as any human, beautiful souls, and hearts filled with unconditional love for their Chosen. She reverently wished that just her and Gwena could get away from all this hubbub around the palace, even if only for a little while.

Gwena's brilliantly white mane flowed it a slight breeze while her white fur looked recently groomed. Her silver colored hooves were making an unmistakable bell sound as they impacted the ground, so unlike any other hoofed being. Her bright blue eyes were clear and had a hint of amusement in them as she met Elspeth at the fence. Overall she had to admit that Gwena was looking particularly beautiful today.

_:Why thank you.: _Elspeth rolled her eyes as Gwena's mind-voice spoke in her head. Leave it to her nosey Companion to go poking around her head just for no better reason then for a complement. She could hear an echo of laughter at that thought over the bond she shared with Gwena.

_: Nosey horse, one of these days your going to get yourself in trouble poking around in peoples heads. I just hope I'm there to see the day.:_ Elspeth replied to her Companion with her own mind-speech. Sometimes she pitied her friend's lack of mind-speech, but other times she envied Talia a little; Having a Companion commenting on your every little thought inside your head got annoying after a while.

_:Oh come on now, I'm not that bad.:_ She had to smile at Gwena's comment on her thought's, she could feel the laugh in her friends mind-voice.

_: No, not usually. I guess I'm just frustrated with my mother and everyone else. They absolutely refuse to do anything, its so infuriating.:_ Elspeth sent to Gwena as she brushed some hair out of her Companions eye.

_: Don't worry so much about it. Everything will get better, you'll see: _Elspeth raised an eyebrow at Gwena's enigmatic reply and sighed. Her companion was going all 'mystical' on her again, and she couldn't tell if she was planning something or just making it up as she went along. Normally she would have enquired further, but she just didn't feel like trying to drag the information out of her Companion, trying to do so in the past usually just ended in hurt feelings and no gain. Let the horse keep her secrets this time, she would find out soon enough.

_:Hop on. We'll go for a little ride and get you away from the palace before you kill some poor unsuspecting servant.:_ Elspeth laughed as she pulled herself up onto Gwena, riding bare-back. Riding a normal horse had been always something she had always enjoyed, but riding a Companion was like a dream. Gwena turned and started to trot off towards the center of the field, but for all the jostling she felt Gwena might as well have been standing still.

Elspeth opened her mouth, but something stopped her, her retort dieing on her lips. There was … _something_ … not right. Like something was yelling 'Danger' in the back of her mind. She felt Gwena suddenly come to a stop beneath her. Then it occurred to her; there was no sound other then the breathing of her Companion and the rustle of her own white uniform. Looking over, she saw a bush rustle in a slight breeze, but it produced no sound. There was no sound coming from the palace, no rustling of grasses, nothing.

_: Gwena, what's going on:_ She sent to her Companion, not trusting her voice.

_: I don't know.: _The nervousness she heard in Gwena's mind-speech did nothing to quell her own growing fear. Then she heard it; a slight buzz, but totally unlike anything she had heard before. It seemed to come from everywhere and was quickly growing louder.

_: Gwena: _The buzzing was so loud that she doubted that she would be able to hear herself if she screamed.

_: I don't know! I can't reach any of the others!"_ She felt Gwena give out a call of alarm, but couldn't hear the sound. Suddenly the awful noise reached a crescendo. Its reverberations seemed to permeate every corner of her body. She could almost hear a voice in the noise, even though if felt like her ears were bleeding. It seemed to be telling her …to be careful what she wished for?

_: GWENA:_

_:Oh demon-spawn…HOLD ON:_

There was bright flash light/nose. And then it was done. Slowly, Elspeth opened her eyes to gape at her surroundings. They were most defiantly not in Companions Field any more.

The… she supposed they were villagers … or something, around them seemed to be gaping right back at the two. They all seemed to be frozen stock-still and staring alternately between Elspeth and Gwena, a younger girl holding some sort of crystal, and an exceedingly older woman standing in front of an oddly colored horse, all three of which were staring at _Her._

"Gwena… where on Velgarth are we?"

_:Um… you really don't want me to answer that.:_

* * *

A.N. Love it? Hate it? Think I should back off the drugs? Let me know! And as always, thank you for the reviews, they keep me typing away. 


	5. Chapter 4

A.N. –I figured I shouldn't wait a whole year between updates, so here's another chapter. I make no promises about more because I'm still fighting writers block, but I'll try.

* * *

Ch4 

Ranma was confused. He was also …lightheaded. Real men didn't feel faint, but being lightheaded was alright, as long as you didn't admit it. In any case, he was really, really lightheaded and confused. He had felt his energy being ripped from him and, for a lack of better words, that he was being ripped from reality itself. And then, without any warning, the entire experience stopped with a flash of light.

The way his life had been, Ranma half expected to be staring out across the plains of Hell, but was a bit more pleasantly surprised to find he was exactly where he was when that girl had cast that spell on him. He had seen too much not to believe that magic existed, his current form proof enough regardless of whatever else he had seen during his travels. What was a bit more ambiguous was what the spell was supposed to do. From the wording of it, he would have guessed that the spell was supposed to fling him … somewhere.

That's when Ranma's eyes started to register with his brain again. Standing right next to him were two occupants of the town square that definitely weren't there before. A young lady, in her early twenties or possibly late teens, sat astride a white horse. The lady had curly honey colored hair, wore robes of pure white with a cut that Ranma had never seen before, and a confused, slightly afraid expression. The horse she was astride, however, truly caught his attention. It went without mention that he immediately recognized her as indeed a female. She was a beautifully almost-blinding white, with long a long main and tail. He absently noted that her silver hooves were the same color as his own, more caught up in crystal-blue eyes that shone with intelligence.

Some deep parts of Ranma's sub-conscious noted that he was more attracted to the horse then the rider, and promptly started an argument as to if this was a good thing or not. A third part of his sub conscious asked whether he should care seeing as he _was_ part horse now. The original two parts shelved their argument in favor of stuffing the third part back into its hole.

"Gwena… where on Velgarth are we?" The woman on the white horse said. He supposed he was asking her mount, because even though he understood what she said, she had spoken in a language that sounded wholly different for any others that Ranma had head, and in his travels he had heard quite a few.

Rapid movement distracted him from the two newcomers. The … Old Woman, which seemed like a safe enough title to refer to the shriveled up thing on a stick, was rapidly approaching the girl who had cast the spell. The girl was rapidly shaking the gem she had used as a focus it like it was a snow-globe and was cursing enough to make even Genma blush if he could understand what she was saying. The girl only looked up in time to see the Old Woman's stick descend and thwack her between the eyes. Ranma involuntarily winced –that had sounded like it hurt. The Old Woman then proceeded to beat the girl around the perimeter of the square, all the time questioning the "sanity of the gods for allowing someone that stupid access to powerful artifacts."

Giving the Old Woman a good look while she was administering her punishment Ranma realized that she was exceedingly skilled in the martial arts. One swing flowed smoothly into the next and he could hardly see her move some times, as well as every single one of her attacks landed, regardless of what her victim tried to do to escape. He also noted absently that even with the tempo of the attacks, they were expertly pulled to prevent truly major damage, but just about everything up to attacks that would leave permanent marks were being used.

The spectacle seemed to have captured everyone's attention. The masses in the courtyard were slowly starting to move again, if only to turn their heads and stare. Even his father was turning his head to watch the beat-down, although he still left the arm holding the now empty-pitcher in the air. The purple haired girl on the ground was starting to slowly stir, if only to wince at each particularly loud thwack.

When the Old Woman had gotten about half way around the perimeter, Ranma wondered if what he should do, or even think, right now. Trying to call up his higher mental functions only got him the equivalent of a busy tone. Shrugging his shoulders mentally, Ranma contented himself to just stand there and wait. He had operated before with little or no instructions and information, quite often in fact, usually because of his father. Everything would become clear in time, for good or, usually, ill.

_:Cough :_ Ranma had the strange sensation of hearing someone cough in his mind but not hear it with his ears. The mental repair union (Ranma-local 303) was going to demand higher wages at the next meeting.

_:Excuse me…:_ Great. That was undeniably a voice in his head. He was going crazy. The stress had finally built to more then his mind could handle.

_:Um…:_ Ranma wondered what life was going to be like now that he was crazy. Maybe this was a good thing, he could mouth off to his pop's and blame it on the voices in his head.

_:Don't go using me as an excuse.:_ the voice sounded annoyed and exacerbated at the same time.

_Well why not?_ Ranma thought back at it. It seemed like a perfectly reasonable thing to ask. If he was going to be crazy and have voices in he head he should at least be able to blame stuff on them.

_:Grrr Because, number one, you are not any more crazy then you were before, and number two, I am not a voice in your head!:_ The voice in his head said.

For some reason Ranma found that unaccountably funny. The voice in his head was claiming that it wasn't. He hadn't seen many movies, but he knew that was always the first thing they claimed. Next it would claim it was an angle or demon or ghost or something.

_:None of the above.:_ The voice said and Ranma had the irresistible urge to look to his side. Not being one to particularly resist irresistible urges, Ranma looked, and found him-self staring into the eyes of the white horse. Blinking confusedly, Ranma again noted how striking the other equines crystal blue eyes were. _:Um, thank you.:_ The voice said, suddenly sounding embarrassed.

_Err, what?_

Ranma felt like he was trying to use a slingshot to hit a foot-sized target over a mile away…_: It's nice to know that some guys even notice my eyes.: _…wearing a blindfold… _:I mean most of them wont even look at me because I'm Groveborn, And those that do just stare at my ass.: _… During a solar eclipse… _:So, I guess its just nice to know that some males don't immediately stick their hoofs in their mouths.: _… With both arms tied behind his back.

_…What?_ Was honestly the best response Ranma could come up at that point.

_: You're not too use to mind-speech are you?: _said the voice.

_… Can't really say that I am. _Ranma replied.

_: Anyways, this is my chosen Elspeth.: _Amazingly enough the young woman riding the other Equine turned to him, smiled, and nodded her head in his direction. _: and I'm Gwena.:_ Ranma had the impression of Gwena doing a curtsy.

_I'm Ranma, sorry about this._ Seemed like an appropriate thing to say.

_: So its YOUR fault were here?!: _Gwena said so loud in his mind that he could swear his ears were ringing.

_What? NO! Wait, no. err…no? I don't think its my fault. People usually blame me for stuff but I know for that _THIS_ time it wasn't my fault! …I think. _Ranma said.

_:…: _He could hear Gwena blink-blink with his mind as well as watch her do it in the real world. He could tell Gwena was going to say more but a largely battered and bruised young girl landed in front of them followed by the Old Woman pogoing up on her stick.

The Old Woman landed on top of the girl and preformed a low bow, all the while appearing to grind her staff into the poor girls lower spine. "Please forgive this unforgivable act Great-Ones. My name is Kuh Lon and I am an Elder of this tribe, this mongrel is responsible for the spell, and as soon as I am able to beat what spell she used out of her I will be able to undo it. I swear on my honor, I will be able to be able to set it right, and if I can't I ask that you only take my life and spare my village your wrath."

Ranma could only stare, trying to compile what the old woman said into something that made at least a little sense. The girl on Gwena, Elspeth was her name, Ranma remembered, just looked confused, he figured it was because she didn't understand a word of what was just said. Gwena herself looked nonplused.

_: Shes… serious about bout giving her life for her village, and she fears that we are going to destroy it:_ Gwena spoke in Ranma's mind while staring at the Elder woman.

_Um, yea, I think. She thinks we are some sort of powerful spirits or something like that. I have no idea why._ Ranma replied.

Gwena Caught the Elders eye and Slowly but deliberately nodded her head, giving her assent to Kuh Lon. The Elder, seeing the approval bowed again, so low that Ranma wouldn't think it was actually physically possible unless he was seeing it right now.

"Xian Pu, take Lo Xian to the council chambers. I'm going to see that all our honored guests needs are met." The Elder instructed to the purple haired girl before proceeding to beat the girl she had been standing on over to a large building.

* * *

Ranma eyed the bamboo cage his father was occupying in the corner of the room. It was a well made cage, with a fair amount of chain used; he figured it would take his father almost 2 minutes to work free without making a lot of noise. Once he woke up from his drug induced sleep that was... he still looked rather like a panda-pincushion with all the darts sticking out of him at odd angles. These villagers could move fast to restrain a thief when they wanted to. 

The room itself was fairly Spartan with only some chairs and a small table pushed up against the wall. A small part of him was grateful for the rooms lack of furnishings because most of the rest of it was filled by his pandafied father, the golden haired woman, and (including himself) two horses... _:I'm Not A Horse!: _... but most of the rest of him was currently trying to keep from having a mental-breakdown. Real men didn't have a mental-breakdown.

First off, he had a curse that turned him into a horse. _:Your Not A Horse Either!: _That one he could sort of deal with. He had seen stranger things after all, and had been for a while preparing himself to deal with something similar to happen to him for a long time. He would either get a cure or he wouldn't and learn to deal with it. It was a non-issue for him.

Secondly, However was a little more hard to wrap his mind around: the villagers were treating the little group here (With exception to the panda) like they were some sort of deity. He was more used to being run out of town like some sort of demon then escorted to the leaders house and offered all kinds of food. Admittedly it was all horse-food, but it tasted well enough, and He doubted it was poisioned or something seeing as how the other horse didn't seem to have any problems with it. _:For the last time! I am NOT A HORSE!:_

Which lead to the third thing, and the one that most convinced himself that he had gone crazy; the voice in his head. The stress of being on the road so long with his father would have cracked anybody, but he felt he had a fairly strong handle on that, but who knew? The other explanation was all the magic he had exposed to had shattered his mind... or maybe he was possessed? Either explanation made much more since to him then the possibility of a horse _:ARG!:_ talking straight to his mind... even if said horse _:Thats IT!: _was giving him a very hostile look and stalking towards him.

* * *

Elspeth could be said to be confused. A tornado could also said to be breezy. She was also afraid. She had no idea where in the world she was and Gwena couldn't tell her either. Or wouldn't. She also couldn't understand the language these people were using, and what little she did know was a direct translation from Gwena. She had no idea what had brought her here, except that she was convinced that this was exactly the kind of magic she had argued with her mother that they needed protection against. Well, if nothing else, then her sudden and flashy disappearance would convince her mother that they needed magic of their own. She wasn't too afraid that this was some plot of Ancar; if it was he sure had an odd way of going about it. But what was currently confusing her the most was why her Companion had run the other equine out of the dwelling and was chasing him around the outside of the Elders home ranting bloody murder.

* * *

Kuh Lon muttered to herself as she watched to Guardian Spirits wore a rut around her house, and considered how she could diplomatically get them to stop. It was obvious to her from the body-language of the two that the younger one, the male and first one to come to the village had said or done something that greatly irritated the elder female. 

She turned to the girl looking worriedly out the window. The Amazon Elder had no doubt that this girl came from some place Else. Even if all her mystical senses weren't telling her that she came from a different world then the white clothing she wore would; it was similar to cloth that could normally be found just about anywhere, but close examination showed that it was made out of materials that just plain didn't exists. Exists on earth at least.

She was going to have to thing long and hard on an appropriate punishment for Lo Xian. As far as she could tell the spell that was cast through the amplifying crystal should have worked exactly as intended and flung the younger Guardian to some other plane. The Elder had no idea what would cause another Guardian to appear, and with someone in tow too. Still, the manor of the second Spirits appearance was more in keeping with legend then the firsts... she doubted that even if she searched through all the village records that she would ever find one of a Spirit just _walking _in the front gates.

Eyeballing the human-come-panda in the cage sleeping off the drugs she again shelved _that_ idea idea, no matter how much her intuition was nagging at her; she knew for a fact that there wasn't a pool of drowned _anything_ that came close to Guardian Spirit, and the closest thing was Pool of Drowned Equine. And there was no way that anything that would get a curse from the pool would have a mystical aura like the one currently being chased had... but even still, something was niggleing at the back of her mind.

Invoking her second-sight again she observed the two Spirits as they made another lap around her house. The female had closed the gap between them to only a handful of feet and Kuh Lon almost felt sorry for the Male. Seeing exactly what she was expecting mystically from the White Spirit and not wanting to push her luck and draw it's attention to her she shifted her gaze to the Spotted Spirit.

"My-my... that is odd." there were areas of his aura that seemed missing... almost cut out. There were sharp lines in his aura that defined and area that where what there was supposed to be _something _was simply a hole. A living creature simply couldn't exist with holes like that in their aura. She sent her gaze to a 'deeper' level. "No... not gone... just recessed...beyond this world..."

The strain of gazing into the ether that deep became to much for the elder and she had to pull back to normal sight. Rubbing her head in anticipation of the coming headache she pogo'd to her back room. "This is going to require some research, but I pray that I am wrong. I fear for the young ones health."

* * *

Ranma was starting to get dizzy from running in circles around the house and after all the days events not a little tired. From the constant rant coming from behind him was raising the probability that the voice in his head wasn't actually in his head because the variety of curse words being used were entirely new to him, and with a father like Genma that was an accomplishment. So that raised the point that if he wasn't strictly going crazy then the voices claim of coming from the horse following him might be true... but who ever heard of a talking horse? _:Die!: ..._Maybe being able to talk to each other was a horse thing... Then again he had never heard of horses being particularly intelligent and a lot of those swears were really quite creative. 

So if he was wrong about going crazy (which he wasn't sure he was, but figured he may as well enjoy downward spiral) he could be wrong about the white... um, thing... chasing him being a horse. _:Yes!: _Though 'if it walks like a horse, looks like a horse, and sounds like a horse...' _:No!:_ Well... Two and a half matches normally would be enough to him, but this horse was doing quite a good job of trying to convince Ranma that it wasn't a horse.

Ranma's desire to find the answer found a simple answer answer in his higher brain-functions. Quite simple he could stop and ask. Ranma's higher brain wasn't really paying attention to the part of his lower brain that was listening in. Specifically the part that came along with the curse that would ensure its owner's new body would be able to do what it's owner wanted. In this case Stop.

Had Ranma's higher-brain had the so-called reigns at that moment he could have slowed down slowly, trying to talk Gwena out of killing him long enough to ask for an explanation. However unfortunately for Ranma his Higher brain did not have control. What followed was, if not as logical, then just as effective and much more spectacular.

Ranma locked all his legs and leaned back, maintaining his balance to remain upright while the friction brought him to a halt. Unfortunately Gwena happened to be less then five feet from him when he decided to stop and ask her for an explanation. Gwena, being the Companion to the Princess was not as rigorously trained as some of the other Companions, and as such had slower reactions then she may have had. Sad to say, Gwena's reactions were not up to waining her of her quarries sudden stop, and the thought simply didn't enter Ranma's mind until much to late. Collision avoidance was not forthcoming.

* * *

Xian Pu supposed that was one way to get to get someone to stop chasing you. An admirable tactic, but it would only work with an opponent that didn't expect to actually catch you. At least the two had stopped wearing a rut around her and her great-great grandmothers home. 

The tangle of horse limbs had come to a rest a little to the side of the walkway, and didn't look to be untangling itself anytime soon. Xian had never been much a connoisseur of sculpture, but the tangle has a certain artistic feel to it. Well, any great sculpture needed a name, she decided she would call this one_ "Horse-parts A La Carte" _and if they managed to disentangle themselves, well, there was always the saying that any piece of artwork was never finished until it was destroyed.

With a self satisfied nod she went up the path to her house to find her great-grandmother. She found the foreigner standing at one of the front windows looking worriedly out at the wreck in the front yard. The brunet may have been older then her, but Xian could tell that she even though she was in fair shape, she wasn't a warrior. She did however, give her the kind of creepy feeling she always got whenever she was around Mystics. Shuddering, and not seeing Kuh Lon in the room she started towards the the study in the back. It was the only other place that she would be, besides at the council hall, and Xian had just come from there.

Delivering Lo Xian to the cell in the council hall and giving an explication at to why had been a the icing on the cake for Xian Pu today. This could very well be the best day of her life, she had just won the yearly tournament at so young an age that only her great-grand-mother tied her for that record, she got to turn in her ex-best-friend-come-worst-enemy to the council for punishment, and something interesting was_ finally_ happening around the village; weird magic and people and horses popping out nowhere. Even if that panda had eaten some of her prize food she could always turn it into a nice rug. Maybe she could even get one of them for herself. Horses were rare in this area, and owning one was a major status symbol, and she had always been partial to the animals herself.

If it came down to it she didn't think she could take the white one from the girl, there was something that just seemed wrong about the idea, but the spotted one would be more then enough, and it was a fine looking animal in its own right.

Xian raised her hand to knock on the study door to see if the Elder was in there, but paused when she heard Kuh Lon's voice come through the thick wood. " 'A humans spirit is naturally cohesive' -meaning that once _all_ of him is in the same realm his spirit will naturally rejoin on its own. Hmm..."

Curiosity piqued, Xian Pu opened the door. Kuh Lon was hunched over a collection on ancient books and scrolls reading in the dark room by candle light. With the curtans drawn it took her a few seconds to adjust to the dark. It looked like a disaster had happened in the rest of the study; the normally properly stored books, scrolls, and artifacts were strewn haphazardly around the room in complete chaos.

"Great-Grandmother! What happened?" Xian Pu said.

"Hmm?" Kuh Lon said, looking up from the scroll she was currently reading. "Oh, its just you Xian Pu. I assume you mean what happened to the study... most would call my research style 'energetic', don't worry yourself about it, I'll clean it up later myself."

"Um... I delivered Lo Xian to the council chambers and told Muz Tzu to bring a bucket of hot water like you told me too... But I am confused... not that I mind, but what exactly did she do?" Xian Pu said. She was afraid to move to far into the room for fear of knocking something over.

"Something fairly grave, great granddaughter." Kuh Lon said and leaned back, pinching the bridge of her nose.

To provoke such serious words and mannerisms from the Elder meant that her one time friend had really messed up this time. "But it was just a basic summoning spell ... That where the white horse and the girl came from, right?"

"No, Xian, I'm afraid that the situation is more serious then that. Would that it be she just botched some summoning spell, we could simply undo that. No, what she did is much more serious."

"What do you mean grea-Thwack!"

"Don't interrupt your elders, child. As I was saying, the darker haired girl and white Guardian Spirit are here on this plain merely as backlash from the spell being miss-cast. It's different from a spell just fizzling, like you've read in your text-book. With a fizzle, the mystical energies just dissipate, and miss-casts are hard to produce even on purpose, let alone by accident, especially with a banishment type of spell."

Xian felt her eyes starting to cross like they did whenever someone started to talk about magic."I'm confused Great-Grandmother."

"Sigh Let me put it like this then; the spell was supposed to take something that didn't belong in this plain and fling it to the plain it belonged to. What actually happened was it took part of the spotted Guardian Spirits soul and spirit and flung it across, but left most behind with the body."

"So the spotted one is not entirely there?"

"Exactly, and the imbalance is going to kill him."

"Oh. That's too bad. I was going to see if I could get it as my horse.Thwack! Ow! What did I do?"

"Fool! It is a Guardian Spirit in physical form, regardless of what it looks like. Even if it was a normal animal I would do everything in my power to help, because having ones soul tore in to parts is a fate wise then death."

"Oh..." Xian Pu paused to digest everything she had just been told. "That's bad. So what is it about Guardian Spirits that cause banishment spells to Mis-cast?"

"I forget how intelligent you can be sometimes when you try, but your making some jumps in logic that are incorrect. First off its not the fact that its a Guardian Spirit itself that caused the problem. Do you realize that the panda in the cage is infact a Jusenkyo victim?"

The change in subject almost threw her, but Xian knew that the Elder had a round about way of answering her questions. "No, but it doesn't surprise me."

"I don't believe he took a dip alone."

"... Wait, you're saying that the spotted horse Guaridan spirit is someone who fell in a cursed spring? "

"I believe so. There is no 'Spring of Guardian Spirit,' I am quite sure of that, and normal Guardians can't be cursed as far as I know. But I believe that we indeed have a guardian spirit who is cursed, or perhaps a person who is cursed to become a Spirit. Jusenkyo curse alone wouldn't cause a mis-cast either, But I believe that the combination of both the magic of the Curse and the inherent magical nature of a Guardian Spirit were too much for the spell to attach to so it only took one part." The Elder sighed and started rolling up the scroll she was reading. "Most of this is speculation however, but I do know what _I _saw with my second sight."

"What did you see?"

"A perfect cookie-cutter shape missing in his spirit the exact shape a new jusenkyo curse would take."

"Ah... thats not good."

"Well. Fortunately I've been able to find a solution in this scroll. You see, a living persons soul is naturally 'sticky.' Even if fragmented, a soul's fragments would normally rejoin. They can't in this case because there is no way for them to cross the barriers of time and space between our world and the other one where the fragments have been sent. All we have to do is open a portal to this other world and summon the fragments, which isn't all that difficult because we have an 'anchor' to the other world in the form of the blond and the white Spirit, and and 'anchor' here to pull the fragments through in the form of the spotted Spirit. After we get the fragments though we send the two from that place back though, and everything will be done nice and neat. Killing two birds with one stone as it were."

"Ah... Great Grandmother, your so smart!"

"Not all that smart child, just diligent, but thank you for saying so anyway. It will take a couple of days for me to gather all the components and cooperation we will need. The young one shouldn't notice the effects of what the spell did to his soul for several weeks."

"...But Great Grandmother... what about if he tries to change with the Jusenkyo curse now that its gone?"

"Um...-

_:AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!:_

-Oh Dear..."


End file.
